Seven produces 13 of them
Yes they do, but not with an adjacent 60 minute metro bulletin except for WA
90 minutes is too much
1 Like
100% agree. The stand-alone 30 minute local news (non-composite) bulletins only worked in the days of the metro bulletins being 30 minutes. Seven even produces a 30 minute state/national/international composite bulletin from its Canberra studios for itâs own NSW regional markets that still have a 30 minute local only news bulletin. Albury backends with a 30 minute cut-down of 7Melbourne News as do the 7QLD bulletins from 7Brisbane. Tasmania being an exception with its own local/state/national/international composite 60 minute bulletin. WA is another story.
But WIN being WIN stay stuck in the past with itâs 90 minute thinking, hence my comment of 30 minute local only news bulletins being so last century. I should have qualified that with saying they only worked back in the days of 30 minute metro bulletins. Even the US and UK still only have a 30 minute network bulletin adjacent to the 30 minute local only news bulletin. What makes WIN think they know better?
Off topic being WIN, but I think their hands are tied somewhat by Nine here⌠I get the impression Nine wants WIN to screen their capital city 6pm bulletins because they think theyâre superior to anything a regional network can produce, and that it would require cooperation/support from Nine for WIN to do so eg. live crosses and pre-recorded football previews etc. As the days of TV news just being pre-packaged reports only are a thing of the past.
1 Like
Very off topic I know. But 90 minutes to anyone is way too long for anyone to sit through is why Seven donât do it, with regional WA being the only exception as there is no competition there.
Seven have simply continued with what Prime were doing. They werenât willing to rock the boat so much, yet. If finances were to dive, I bet weâd be seeing more change.
Clearly this wouldnât be an issue if the National News was only 30 minutes but itâs a by-product of it now being a whole hour. WIN also arenât going to pay for an extra resource for someone to chop it up to fit 30 minutes. Nine would also be unhappy, and ensured as part of their affiliation that WIN rebroadcast their schedule with an exception for their 30 minute local news at 5:30, which keeps prime-time schedule from 6pm aligned for their sales teams to easily sell Total TV.
4 Likes
Agree, and if it does, Iâd be inclined to think theyâd also be likely to move to a WIN model of local news at 5.30pm, with a lot of generic reports screened across NSW, QLD, WA and possibly TAS as well, with all presentation centralised in one location.
I donât think thereâs much chance of a local hunter version of 7 news making any comeback to the hunter or Newcastle anytime soon. If they did why did prime TV close the Newcastle bulletin?
Think they will more like go the way of noodle updates, with WIN going the same way.
1 Like
NBN was too dominant.
1 Like
Possibly, yes.
Yes, I recall the ratings for Newcastle were something like 120,000 for NBN vs 20,000 for Prime from 6-7pm.
Possibly. We donât know. If that were the case 2 things.
- nine is right, their bulletins are far superior
- Win needs to negotiate better the affiliate deal. If they want their local news at 6 and a truncated 9 news at 630, thats based on what was done for decades and what seven does, they should push for that in their deal. Itâs a fair logical position to take
Seven doesnât need to go all-in on a full 30-minute local news service on day one. In fact, you could start much smaller.
Expand the existing Newcastle updates into a dedicated â7 News Newcastle-Hunterâ mini bulletin. Five minutes. Dedicated branding. Dedicated Newcastle backdrop. Local headlines, local sport and local weather.
Run it as a timed opt-out within 7 News at 4pm and 6pm: âFor our Newcastle viewers, we now cross to 7 News Newcastle-HunterâŚâ Everyone else continues with the Sydney bulletin.
The bulletin could be pre-recorded, repurposed across 7plus, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, and promoted as:â7 News Newcastle-Hunter. Every day during 7 News at 4, 7 News at 6 and anytime on 7plus.â
Itâs a relatively low-cost way to test the market, capture viewers looking for local news at 6pm and create a genuine point of difference against WIN/Nine. The choice isnât limited to either noodle updates or a fully-fledged 30-minute local news service. There is a large middle ground, and right now Seven has been handed a rare opportunity to explore it - a market with 850,000
1 Like
A fair chunk of that number includes part of the Central Coast (probably 150k or so), which generally watches Sydney TV.
And regional ad rates are 30% lower than metro.
So probably not as much incentive as that.
From a market opportunity perspective, Newcastle remains unusually attractive by regional TV standards and Seven has been handed an opportunity. Markets of this size, with a long established habit of watching local news at 6pm, donât come along very often. Regional ad rates may be lower than metro, but so are operating costs.
Back of envelope maths suggests there could be around $30 million a year in TV advertising revenue in the Newcastle Hunter market. Seven doesnât need to win all of it. A five-minute Newcastle Hunter bulletin would be a relatively light lift, and if it helped grow market share by even a few percentage points, the numbers could start looking interesting.
The point is, it doesnât have to be noodle updates or a full 30-minute bulletin. Thereâs a healthy middle ground, and thatâs probably where the opportunity sits.
2 Likes
I guess this puts any speculation that Seven might consider a local news bulletin for Newcastle to bed
9 Likes